History

Factum is the most significant independent documentary production in Croatia. In less than 15 years of its existence, more than 60 award-winning documentaries were made. They were shown at more than 70 festivals and, besides many international awards, received two Grand Prix Awards and four Best Production Awards.

Factum documentary project was developed in 1997, as part of the then Center for Dramatic Art at (Soros) Open Society Institute. It was founded in order to support independent documentary production that was nonexistent at the time, due to political and social circumstances.

In its beginnings, Factum worked on two levels. First, there were short documentaries, made as part of the international documentary workshop that was taking place every summer in the small ancient Istrian town of Grožnjan. The films were made in Istria and post-production was made in Zagreb (only occasionally in the country from which its participants came). This is how films like Bag, Orbanići Unplugged, Ottavio, Good Luck, Una Storia Polesana, Of Cows And Men etc. were made.  

At the same time, the Zagreb-based production was launched, with a whole series of social documentaries, such as BBB, Jurić: Tvrđa, Poetry And Revolution, The Boy Who Rushed, Storm Over Krajina, Pavilion 22 and many others.

In its second phase, after 2002, Factum turned to longer films and more complex documentary structures. This was partly due to the fact that it gained access to Croatian sources of financing – Ministry of Culture (later HAVC), Office for Culture of the City of Zagreb etc.

In the third phase of its short history, after 2007, Factum acquires its formal and legal independence, moves to a new location and establishes itself as an unavoidable factor of contemporary Croatian documentary production.

Thematically, Factum’s films can be divided in several groups: films about Croatia’s recent history; films that have aroused controversies, sharp criticism and public confrontations; films tackling with the stories no one else wanted to tackle with at that time; films that addressed new topics, in Croatia and the entire region. These are, among others, Storm Over Krajina, Lora – Testimonies, Pavilion 22, I Have Nothing Nice To tell You, Three, Blockade and many more.

On the other hand, Factum was a pioneer of autobiographical documentaries and made it possible for Croatian documentary films to join the global trend of intimate and personal reexamination of the world we live in by talking about authors themselves. These films include Graham And I, The Boy Who Rushed, All About Eve, Category: Optimist, War Reporter, Behind The Looking Glass and others.

Finally, Factum also developed a third production ‘line’ – documentaries about people living on margins of society. Although such topics have always existed in Croatian documentarist tradition, Factum’s authors spoke about them in the moment of social homogenization, when all kinds of minorities were pushed to the utmost margin. In addition to the aforementioned films, this group includes Peščenopolis, Barge Keeper, Straight A's, Vajt, In Fond Memory Of TDZ, Together, Čedo and many others.

Besides two Vladimir Nazor Awards for Film Art, two Grand Prix Awards, four Best Production Awards and a series of specialized awards on the Days of Croatian Film, Factum’s films were shown at numerous international festivals.

A great number of partners, NGO’s, associations, trusts, state institutions, educational institutions, production houses, broadcasters, international organizations and embassies  have helped the realization of Factum films with their financial assistance and contribution to programs.

Growth and development of Factum was contributed by production assistants - Dana Budisavljević, Marina Andrijašević and Vanja Daskalović, as well as technical coordinators – Igor Bauer, Ante, Vanja Marin and Ivan Golić.

Since 2008. Factum entered a separate co-production and technical cooperation with production company Zagreb Film.